Waterloo pays tribute to Swedish sensation

The Swedish tribute band, Waterloo, returns to the Conner Prairie Amphitheatre for a concert of ABBA’s hits from the 1970s including “SOS,” “Dancing Queen” and “Mamma Mia,” among many others. (Submitted photos)

By Joseph Knoop

The Show, a tribute to ABBA will perform Aug. 15 and 16 at the Marsh Symphony on the Prairie concert.

The band, known as “Waterloo,” has been singing tribute to the Swedish pop group since 1996 when performers Camilla Dahlin and Katja Nord asked original ABBA members Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson’s permission.

ABBA was the first pop group from a non-English speaking country to enjoy extremely high levels of fame in the American music scene.

The Show now performs regularly with original ABBA members such as Andersson, Lasse Wellander, Janne Schaffer and Mats Ronander on guitar, Rutger Gunnarsson on bass and Roger Palm among others.

Dahlin was originally featured in ABBA’s music video for “Thank You For the Music.”

The Show has performed over 560 shows, four times as much as the original ABBA group.

The group has sold out three times at the famous Hollywood Bowl venue.

The Show tells a personalized tale of ABBA’s rise to success, beginning the performance with the end of the 1960’s, as original members Ulvaeus, Andersson, Lyngstad and Faltskog met to play for the first time. The rest of the show charts the band’s timeline through such hits as “SOS,” “Dancing Queen” and “Knowing Me Knowing You.”

The original group broke up in 1982, Ulvaeus and Andersson going on to write music for theatrical productions while Lyngstad and Faltskog pursued solo careers.

Patrons of the concert are allowed to picnic at the venue starting at 6 p.m. The show will commence at 8 p.m. Fans can purchase tickets in advance for $24 for adults and $12 for children ages 2 to 12. Tickets sold the day of the performance cost adults $28 and children $14